BOSTON — The Republican National Committee has approved a resolution to block two television networks from hosting GOP presidential primary debates.
Friday’s vote affirms RNC chairman Reince Priebus’s threat against CNN and NBC unless the networks drop plans to air programs about possible Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton. The vote at the committee’s summer meeting in Boston was unanimous.
Priebus said that the networks have, quote, “an obvious bias.”
Even before the Clinton dispute, Republican leaders favored plans to have fewer presidential debates with more friendly moderators. They believe their 2012 presidential candidates spent too much time beating up each other in last year’s months-long primary season, which contributed to Mitt Romney’s loss.
The effort to rein Clinton’s national exposure comes as the Republican Party is trying to regroup after losing the last two presidential elections. Party members are gathering in Boston this week for their annual three-day summer meeting.
CNN Films is planning a feature-length documentary about Clinton and NBC Entertainment has a mini-series in the works ahead of a potential 2016 White House Democratic primary bid by the former U.S. secretary of state and first lady, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. Both networks hosted Republican debates in the last election campaign.
The RNC sent letters on Aug. 5 to Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, and Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide saying the programs were a “thinly-veiled attempt at putting a thumb on the scales of the 2016 presidential election.”
The move is “a great fundraising strategy from the RNC,” Joe Trippi, a Democratic political strategist, said on “Fox News Sunday.”